The study looked at the overall weight loss of more than 200 teens who had undergone surgery across five clinics between the ages of 13 and 19. Most of the teens weighed about 330 pounds before the procedure and lost about 90 pounds, initially.

At baseline, all the participants were obese (BMI >30) whereas at 3 years, 26% of the participants were no longer obese… at 3 years, 2% of the participants who underwent gastric bypass and 4% of those who underwent sleeve gastronomy exceeded their baseline weight:

While participants were followed for three years post-surgery, it is possible some of the health improvements seen may diminish and other health risks could emerge later. Thus, the longer follow-up of adolescents who have bariatric surgery through at least 10 years is critical.

Some of the teens who underwent the surgery also suffered complications, the AP reports, like a decrease in iron levels. About 13% needed additional operations.

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Though a 5% long-term success rate seems low, some experts say that weight loss is not always the most important part of surgery. The AP lays out some encouraging results from the study:

—75 percent had unhealthy blood fat levels including high triglycerides and too little good cholesterol: in two-thirds of them it vanished.

—40 percent had elevated blood pressure; it returned to normal in three-quarters.

—Almost 20 percent had abnormal kidney function; it disappeared in more than 80 percent.

—13 percent had Type 2 diabetes; it disappeared in more than 90 percent.

A majority of participants in our study had marked improvements with respect to weight, obesity-related coexisting conditions, and quality of life… we found remission of diabetes in 95% of participants who had type 2 diabetes at baseline in our study… this result, coupled with the findings of normalization of elevated blood pressure in nearly 80% of our participants, leads us to hypothesize that adolescents may have a greater potential than adults for reversal of the cardiometabolic consequences of obesity.